Meet the Competitors

It takes a competitive drive to put your engine-building ability to the test at the AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge. Here, some of the country's top engine builders take their best shot at building serious power from their favorite American V-8 engines and then prove their worth on the dyno in head-to-head competition. Simply making the show is accomplishment enough, as many who set out to compete succumb well before the opening day of qualifying. For those who make it to the show, the week's competition at the University of Northwestern Ohio's dyno facility is a true test of man and machine, pitting the skills and abilities of these engine builders against the hard empirical numbers issued from the SuperFlow/DTS Powermark dynamometers. When the hammer drops, there are no excuses and nowhere to hide. Reputations are on the line, and power rules the day.

The 2013 running of the Challenge returned to its roots, with all of the competitors going head to head in a single class of competition. Unlike the previous two years in which the field was divided into two classes with two distinct styles of engines, for 2013 the game was on with all the competitors having to field a "Street" style of engine. Gone were the ultra-exotic full-on race-style engines, along with their specialty cylinder heads and stratospheric compression ratio. As you might imagine, the engines built for the 2013 Challenge were more like the powerplant you might find in your own street machine. The rules were written to limit the components to reflect the mainstream of the performance aftermarket world. These engines feature street-style parts with an OEM production basis, a limited compression ratio, and are run on VP 100 unleaded fuel.

2/31Johnny Hunkins Popular Hot Rodding Editor

When the dynos were fired for the four days of qualifying, we had 29 competitors all looking for a place in the final eliminations. With an unprecedented number of contingency sponsors and a revision to the payout grid, the money on the line was huge for the event winner. For your review, what follows is a basic outline of the engines and teams that made up the 2013 show. The peak horsepower numbers and torque give you an idea of the performance capabilities. If you'd like to make the show with an engine of your own, review the 2014 rules at enginemasters.com and send in an application.